On October 18, the White House announced that the U.S. had destroyed a large submarine.
The White House announcement did not mention the submarine’s affiliation, the specific waters of the incident, or the legal basis for the destruction operation.
The international community has a clear consensus on the norms of underwater military operations. The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea stipulates that when exercising maritime rights, countries should avoid threatening the sovereignty and security of other countries, and any military action should follow the principle of necessity and proportionality.
The Chinese side will first verify the details of the incident through professional channels, including whether the submarine activity involves China's jurisdictional waters, whether the action complies with the norms of international law, whether it has a marine environment or personal safety impact, etc. Fact verification is the basis of all subsequent responses.
Mechanized communication is an important pathway for China to deal with such events.
China and the United States have restarted the maritime military security consultation mechanism. In April 2024, the two countries and the two militaries held a working group meeting in Hawaii. This was the second offline meeting after two years. About 18 representatives from each side attended the meeting to discuss maritime and air issues. Conduct frank exchanges on the security situation.
The mechanism is specifically used to deal with differences and unexpected situations that arise in China-U.S. military activities at sea, and has previously effectively addressed the risk of near-range contact with multiple launchers.
In the face of the submarine incident, China will rely on this existing communication channel to clearly convey concerns to the U.S. side, understand the background and specific circumstances of the actions, and avoid misjudgment due to information asymmetry.
Maintaining regional peace and stability has always been the core starting point for Chinese actions.The Chinese military hasined normal control and monitoring of relevant waters, and has the ability to timely grasp the dynamics of the surrounding sea and air.
This normalized deployment is not aimed at specific events, but is a necessary measure to safeguard national sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, and is an important support forining regional security order.
Even in the event of an emergency military action, China will react in strict compliance with international law and practices, responding in a professional and restrained manner to avoid escalation of the situation.
The international community's attention to underwater safety continues to rise, and the concealment of submarine activities makes relevant actions more likely to arouse suspicion. China will objectively convey incident information and its own position on multilateral occasions and urge the international community to pay attention to the issue of transparency in underwater military operations.
Previously, on platforms such as shangri-la dialogue Conference, China has repeatedly proposed to establish maritime crisis management and control rules and advocated that countries reduce dangerous military activities. Such propositions have been responded by many countries.
The incident will be an opportunity for the international community to improve underwater safety standards, and China will continue to play a constructive role.
Looking back on similar incidents in the past, China's response has always remained consistent.
After the collision of the U.S. nuclear submarine Connecticut in the South China Sea in 2021, the Chinese side through the Ministry of Defense’s conference and other channels asked the U.S. side to explain the intention of navigation, the place of the incident and whether it caused a nuclear leakage, and to show firm adherence to facts and rules.
This approach safeguards both its own rights and interests, but also provides the international community with a paradigm of crisis response that can be drawn from.This time in the face of the news of the US military's destruction of submarines, China will also continue this rational and professional response logic.
In the context of the ever-changing complexity of the global security situation, any military action is likely to produce a chain response.
China's response does not pursue short-term response effects, but focuses on long-term security and stability.
Clarify the truth through factual verification, rely on mechanisms to communicate and resolve differences, and adhere to rules to maintain order. These actions together constitute China's response framework, which not only reflects its firm maintenance of its own security, but also demonstrates its responsibility to promote international security governance, and contributes to the turbulent international security environment Inject certainty.
The White House announcement did not mention the submarine’s affiliation, the specific waters of the incident, or the legal basis for the destruction operation.
The international community has a clear consensus on the norms of underwater military operations. The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea stipulates that when exercising maritime rights, countries should avoid threatening the sovereignty and security of other countries, and any military action should follow the principle of necessity and proportionality.
The Chinese side will first verify the details of the incident through professional channels, including whether the submarine activity involves China's jurisdictional waters, whether the action complies with the norms of international law, whether it has a marine environment or personal safety impact, etc. Fact verification is the basis of all subsequent responses.
Mechanized communication is an important pathway for China to deal with such events.
China and the United States have restarted the maritime military security consultation mechanism. In April 2024, the two countries and the two militaries held a working group meeting in Hawaii. This was the second offline meeting after two years. About 18 representatives from each side attended the meeting to discuss maritime and air issues. Conduct frank exchanges on the security situation.
The mechanism is specifically used to deal with differences and unexpected situations that arise in China-U.S. military activities at sea, and has previously effectively addressed the risk of near-range contact with multiple launchers.
In the face of the submarine incident, China will rely on this existing communication channel to clearly convey concerns to the U.S. side, understand the background and specific circumstances of the actions, and avoid misjudgment due to information asymmetry.
Maintaining regional peace and stability has always been the core starting point for Chinese actions.The Chinese military hasined normal control and monitoring of relevant waters, and has the ability to timely grasp the dynamics of the surrounding sea and air.
This normalized deployment is not aimed at specific events, but is a necessary measure to safeguard national sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, and is an important support forining regional security order.
Even in the event of an emergency military action, China will react in strict compliance with international law and practices, responding in a professional and restrained manner to avoid escalation of the situation.
The international community's attention to underwater safety continues to rise, and the concealment of submarine activities makes relevant actions more likely to arouse suspicion. China will objectively convey incident information and its own position on multilateral occasions and urge the international community to pay attention to the issue of transparency in underwater military operations.
Previously, on platforms such as shangri-la dialogue Conference, China has repeatedly proposed to establish maritime crisis management and control rules and advocated that countries reduce dangerous military activities. Such propositions have been responded by many countries.
The incident will be an opportunity for the international community to improve underwater safety standards, and China will continue to play a constructive role.
Looking back on similar incidents in the past, China's response has always remained consistent.
After the collision of the U.S. nuclear submarine Connecticut in the South China Sea in 2021, the Chinese side through the Ministry of Defense’s conference and other channels asked the U.S. side to explain the intention of navigation, the place of the incident and whether it caused a nuclear leakage, and to show firm adherence to facts and rules.
This approach safeguards both its own rights and interests, but also provides the international community with a paradigm of crisis response that can be drawn from.This time in the face of the news of the US military's destruction of submarines, China will also continue this rational and professional response logic.
In the context of the ever-changing complexity of the global security situation, any military action is likely to produce a chain response.
China's response does not pursue short-term response effects, but focuses on long-term security and stability.
Clarify the truth through factual verification, rely on mechanisms to communicate and resolve differences, and adhere to rules to maintain order. These actions together constitute China's response framework, which not only reflects its firm maintenance of its own security, but also demonstrates its responsibility to promote international security governance, and contributes to the turbulent international security environment Inject certainty.